[Article updated as of 6PM to include response from Sheriff’s Office, which is linked below. Previously, the BCSO had not provided comment on the incident]
A Bulloch County resident is upset over a traffic stop that occurred just outside the city limits, one he says never should have happened in the first place.
The incident happened Wednesday on Highway 301 leaving Statesboro.
Chris Glover, a longtime Bulloch County resident, says he was traveling towards I-16 in his wife’s vehicle with their two children after lunch. He says he changed lanes on 301, using his blinker, and a few moments later, a truck pulled up behind him in the right lane on his tail. Glover says he was unaware that the vehicle was a police vehicle until it was close enough to see the lights outfitted on the inside of the truck and on the grill. As the truck stayed on his bumper, Glover said he flashed his hand twice with his fingers spread to indicate the speed limit for 55 mph. That’s when the blue lights came on.
Glover recorded the traffic stop with Captain Rick Rountree, who is over Internal Affairs and Professional Standards at the Bulloch County Sheriff’s Office. The video, which begins in the parking lot, quickly spread on social media, reaching over 25,000 views by Thursday at lunch.
Captain Rountree can be first seen approaching the vehicle saying, “I’m trying to get somewhere,” after Glover asks why he was tailgating him. Glover tells Rountree, “Well, you’re not running any lights or anything,” to which Rountree replies, “That’s right.”
Glover says, “That’s right, so you have the right to do whatever you want to do?” “Right,” Rountree replies.
Captain Rountree again tells Glover he was “trying to get somewhere,” to which Glover says, “So, if I turn my scanner on, I’m going to hear that you’re trying to get somewhere?”
Rountree replies, “Listen to me, I don’t have to explain anything to you.”
The pair continued to exchange words before Rountree, walking away, said, “I’m not going to forget you.” He returned to his unmarked vehicle, at which point Glover asked for the badge number and name of Rountree. Rountree responded by exiting his vehicle again, asking Glover for his name, and asking to see his driver’s license. Glover refused.
Glover repeatedly asked Rountree what he was being stopped for which Rountree eventually said, “Refusing to…to…yield to a car trying to move over.”
The pair continued to argue. Glover repeatedly argued that Rountree did not have emergency lights on while Rountree said, “I got somewhere to be.”
“I’m not going to forget your tag number,” Rountree told Glover as he walked back to his truck again. “Trust me.”
No traffic citation or warning was issued by Rountree. It is not unlawful for a law enforcement officer to conduct a traffic stop in an unmarked vehicle. O.C.G.A. 40-1-7 permits the use of unmarked vehicles, but stipulates that issuing citations or conducting traffic stops as an unmarked vehicle cannot be the sole, full-time use of the vehicle.
Glover says he did not commit a crime and doesn’t believe he should have ever been stopped.
When he spoke with AllOnGeorgia Wednesday night, Glover said he plans to file a complaint with the Sheriff’s Office as he is most concerned about being targeted in the future. He and his wife said they made attempts to do so Wednesday afternoon but was not successful.
VIDEO: Bulloch Resident Says He was Stopped by BCSO Without Cause
The 4-minute video of the incident – beginning at the point where both vehicles were stopped in a parking lot – is linked below.
Just ignorance at it's finest.
Posted by Chris Glover on Wednesday, March 20, 2019
Clarence Belt
March 21, 2019 at 8:14 pm
The sheriffs deputy , was indeed not professional! If he need to get somewhere why did he stop him in the first place ? If I had someoplace to be I’d go around him at first opportunity! Where he wanted to be was not important or he would never have stopped him🤷♂️
Paul L. Nally
March 22, 2019 at 5:41 am
Dear Mr. Irate Citizen,
It would seem that you have a problem, brought on by your mouth and an attitude of disrespectful indifference to your ignorance.
Your video does nothing to shed the light of evidence upon the initial reason for your being stopped by the officer other than a difference in opinion about what you were doing or not doing upon a public way. However, it does shed some light on the question of a reasonable suspicion.
You apparently don’t care that you don’t understand. Ignorance is a curable condition; indifference to ignorance is another story.
Your first lack of knowledge is that the black letter of the law mandates a presumption of propriety as to the acts of public officials, and your bald, unsupported, perceived allegations raised in the video must be viewed in that light, along with the fact that your lack of anger management skills allowed your mouth to be running before your intellect was in gear (assuming, of course, your IQ is somewhere above sea level). That presumption of propriety also extends to his incident report.
Second, your lack of knowledge means that you don’t understand that LEOs have a statutory and case law entitlement to immunity from a court’s jurisdiction in a civil suit. So, by all means, go hire a lawyer who will be willing to take your hard earned money from the mouth of your wife and kids and put on a fine show for you in court … to no avail.
Third, you lack the knowledge that Bulloch County has an unindicted felon for a District Attorney who is protected by the US District Court and the 11th Circuit. (case # CV617-138 and 17-15646-F). And, since he seems to have the ability to “indict a ham sandwich” by deceptive advocacy or outright intimidation of your neighbors in Grand Jury assembled, you could be looking at a traffic ticket to pay for exercising you right to irrationally rant.
Today, you find yourself standing at the plate with three strikes against you, and only you to blame for picking up the bat of an out-of-control mouth and an indifference to your ignorance.
All may not be lost, however, since a presumption in the law may be rebutted by facts. Example, was there a dash cam in the patrol vehicle recording the whole incident? If so, what does it say? And that incident report? Does it contain untruthful statements that can be proved? If so, then there’s a Southern US District Court case from a few years back in which a US Judge at Valdosta ruled that a deputy lost his immunity because though writing a report was a protected function of his job, he had no authority to include untruthful statements in it that worked a constitutional injury to the accused; and since lying in an official report was equated with malice, he lost his entitlement to immunity and the suit against him was allowed to proceed. Fraud and malice vitiates all.
Young man, the day you turned 18 you took a seat at the Board of Directors of two of the largest corporations in the world, The United States of America and the State of Georgia. May I suggest that you try conducting your affairs in a manner befitting a Board member.
Eli K. Webber
March 22, 2019 at 11:38 pm
Good to know your a Nazi lol by your rant i see your probably another know all see all self righteous asshole who thinks your opinion means something
Eric
March 22, 2019 at 11:58 pm
This man did not bring this problem on himself. Your harsh words against him accomplish nothing other than trying to discredit his valid opinion as a United States citizen
Officer Rountree did not conduct himself as any type of professional. Period. He is one of the many who collect a paycheck from the tax payers of Bulloch County that live above the law and believe they can do what they want because of their title.
Your arrogance and flaud sense of justification for the conduct of this officer shows your true character.
Let the evidence tell the story.
Dustin
March 22, 2019 at 1:37 pm
Pretty open threat against the guy that took the video. Bet it would have been a whole different scene if he didn’t have his camera running. Not overly persuaded by the SO’s claim of Glover’s previous incidents; if they had involved weapons and racism odds are there would have been an arrest as well and would have been mentioned in their response.
The Bulloch County Sheriff’s Office are the most God-complected, Nazi-esque law enforcement agency in the state. Making up supposed offenses like “failure to yield to a car trying to move over” from them is commonplace, particularly when they’re “trying to get somewhere.” They seem to figure laws are written for their convenience. Can’t help but wonder what “official business” was on that not important enough to warrant lights and sirens but still mundane enough that he could harass and threaten this guy (to the extent he could with a camera running).
Jonathan W. Collingsworth
March 24, 2019 at 10:55 pm
Bulloch County has a history of people in positions of authority abusing that authority with an indifference to accountability.
Many have considered themselves untouchable. Positions such as sheriff, clerk of the courts, tax commissioners, county managers, city clerks, city managers…plus a myriad of low-level hirelings have all been accused of, charged, or convicted of some type of crime or malfeasance.
I think the problem extends from the fact that so many people in these positions are related by blood or marriage, so they feel safe in their network.
We might could call it “bureacratic incest”.
Craig Hughes
March 25, 2019 at 3:38 pm
Mr. High and Mighty Nally must have seen a different video from the one I saw. To dress down the civilian like he did was definitely out of line.
I’ve never been rude to an officer before, but had I been the target of that moronic lawman, my response would have been very similar, based on what we’re led to believe transpired. Too many police officers have the opinion they can do whatever they damned well please at the expense of innocent citizens.
If the officer truly (and I doubt it, since his attitude truly belies his “need”) needed to be somewhere, he would have turned on his lights, goosed his siren and the driver would have pulled over. His further threat to the civilian that he was going to “remember” his tag number and name was way over the line. Then, refusing to give the driver his name and badge number is sure-fire proof that the cop knew he was wrong.
All in all, a disgraceful incident for the Sheriff’s Department. The driver had every right to be upset for the stop. I hope the good Captain is properly reprimanded for his abuse of power, threatening the driver and failing to comply for the request for his name and badge number.
Mary Daughtry
July 19, 2019 at 12:31 am
Two different issues I will address…if you do not like Bulloch County…leave. I will show you all county lines that exit our county.
Second issue…I do apologize for the ADMINISTRATION of the Bulloch County Sheriff’s Office. The voters made that decision and will live with that decision for the remainder of his term. This office does deserve our respect and prayers. Some people obviously were not taught to respect those in authority.
Citizen
August 10, 2019 at 10:32 am
Serious issues with this video. The officer was very unprofessional and I do believe that he was abusing his position. The driver/ videographer while within his right obviously appears to have an issue with authority and a point to prove. The “official response” from the department further exposes the issues of blind defense of an officer without seeing the opportunity for further training of the force.
Their focus on previous complaints of the driver is neither germane or proper to address in an official statement.
I am a native of Bulloch County; have had friends and relatives on the force. I believe in obeying the law and respecting authority but respect is a two way street and it appears that the sheriff’s department may need to remember that the oath to protect and serve is paramount in maintaining the trust and respect of the citizens of Bulloch County.